Pete Ballantine Jr.

Pete Ballantine Jr. moved from Bountiful Utah to California in 2002 to pursue stand up comedy. This was a bold move due to his previous experience with stand up at his local comedy club in Utah, in which he bombed horribly. It was so bad, one of the regulars at the club approached him after the disaster of a set, placed his hand on Pete's shoulder, and asked him, "You alright buddy?"

After the incident, Pete would drive back to the club numerous times to try and redeem himiself. Unfortunately, the closest he ever got to the stage was from his car in the parking lot. There he would find himself trembling nervously after which, he would inevitably end up turning around, and driving 30 minutes back home.

It wasn't untill 6 months later when he actually arrived in California, that Pete forced himself to get back on stage. It was a so so set, but Pete realized an important thing: to get good you're gonna hit, but more importantly, you're gonna miss. And so, he started getting onstage religiously. Much to his excitement, his act started to build! Five minutes, ten minutes, twently minutes! He was slaying every audience he was placed in front of.

Pete Decided to enter a contest to see how he'd weigh in against some other up and coming comics. He breezed passed all three rounds and found himself in the finals of the Ultimate Laff Down in which he finished with a solid third place. Not long after, he again decided to compete, this time in the Orange County's Funniest Person Contest, and for the second time around, found himself skipping his way into the finals seemingly without any resistance.

He eventually went back to Utah to visit and thought he'd give his local comedy club a try one more time, this time actually making it into the club. It was a complete success. The owner, Keith Stubbs, approached him immediately after and asked him to open for the headliner all weekend. Pete rocked the audience.

Back in California he kept banging away at the comedy scene. He became a member of the Heavy Hitters of Comedy after nailing an audition in Hollywood. He now performs regularly at the Heavy Hitters shows at the Hollywood improv. Pete has also made his first step in the door performing for colleges in which he recently opened for Jeff Garcia at UC Irvine.

Pete's latest pursuit is his transition from what his parents think he should do, finish college, get a nice job at some business, and establish some security, to what he's going to do, become a full time road comic. So keep your eyes open, you'll see Pete at your local comedy club soon!